


Par for the Course

by Lafeae



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Bets & Wagers, Established Relationship, Fluff, Golf shenanigans, Idiots in Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23745892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lafeae/pseuds/Lafeae
Summary: There’s nothing that isn’t competitive for Kaiba. Not even mini-golf.And Joey takes full advantage of it.
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto
Comments: 12
Kudos: 70





	Par for the Course

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MistressArafax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressArafax/gifts).



> This has been a long time coming, honestly. And I think is in the Rich Wive’s Club universe. Kind of. 
> 
> Warning: don’t do the math.

In the middle of a temperate California summer, with plenty of sun and no wind, Kaiba could have thought of six-thousand things that were better to do outside than play mini-golf. That Joey had managed to wrangle him to do it was appalling, and he spent every moment looking around the course: pirate-themed, plastic, third-rate. 

As he drank in the scenic freeway some fifty yards away, only separated with a chain-link fence, he heard Joey clap. “A’ight! 3! Mark it: your husband was on-par.” 

Kaiba raised his brows, the extent of his interest. 

“C’mon,” Joey smacked Kaiba’s shoulder. “Mark it down. Ya said you’d tally.” 

“I can remember it.” 

“Liar. What’d I get over on hole 4?” 

“6,” Kaiba replied dryly. 

Joey crossed his arms and craned his neck ostentatiously, almost leaning, to look at the scorecard balled in Kaiba’s hand. “Yeah, an’ you got a 5, not a 4.” 

“It was a 4. Shots that fall off the course don’t count.” 

“Not how I play,” Joey said, clicking his tongue. He stretched the candy-red club over his shoulders and walked to the end of the hole. “You’re go, bundle-a-fun. Ya won’t be able to get this on par.” 

Sighing, Kaiba tucked the scorecard away and placed the ball in the edge. This game was ridiculous. “You know we could be at Pebble Beach in twenty minutes if you really wanted to play golf,” he putted, and it rounded to the end but flew past the hole. “Or Augusta. If we’d have left this morning, we’d have had plenty of time.” 

“Yeah, but that’s not fun.” 

“And this is?” Kaiba said derisively. His ball rounded the hole, bounced off a rock and launched across the green. 

“It is for me. Watchin’ ya struggle’s been a real treat, y’know?” 

“Oh please, I’m still ahead of you.” 

Joey shrugged, and he sat on a bench nearby. “Yeah, but I ain’t red in the face an’ you are. What’s the say about me?” 

“Is this some kind of challenge, Joseph?” 

“It’s a game ain’t it?” Joey asked. His smile was devilish, but only for a second, and suddenly Kaiba got it. “I figured you’d take any challenge, ‘specially with me. Been a while since we had a good, healthy competition.” 

“Because you always end up whining.” 

Joey blanched. “Do not!” 

“Oh, yes you do.” The ball finally landed in the hole after a careful, steady aim. “4. And despite the bogey, I’m still ahead by 5 points.” 

They had 7 holes to go, and Kaiba caught Joey twisted around, rubbing his chin, and inspecting the course. He gave Joey a few moments to consider what sort of game they were going to play. What sort of stakes they were wagering. 

After a short while, Joey shot up, and they moved to the next hole. The bounce in his step made Kaiba as excited as he was leery. Joey was right: they hadn’t had a good competition in a while, and he had to believe it was because of their marriage. The same reason that, somehow, Joey had become taciturn when he needed to. Learned from several years of dealing with rich wives, business moguls, politicos, and the ear-chewing types. Arguing was an art, too. But competition? They didn’t make much time for it. There were better things they could be doing. 

“So,” Joey said, planting his ball. “Here’s the offer.” 

“Are we talking like a big-boy now?” 

“Hey, I got that off Hernandez.” 

Kaiba scoffed. “Don’t remind me of that dunce.” 

Wiggling his butt, just enough that Kaiba suspected Joey knew he was looking—which had him second-guessing that evil wive’s club—Joey putted and continued: “The offer I got is this: I beat ya, an’ me and you are gonna get real acquainted with the clubhouse at that botanical whats-its resort. Tonight.” 

“Fascinating.” 

“Got ya intrigued?” 

“Depends. What do I get?” Kaiba asked as Joey sunk a birdie on the hole, sticking his tongue out. “It better be good.” 

“Well, I was thinkin’ maybe I could get into your real-golf thing.” 

Kaiba lined up his ball and made sure to thorough with the angle. He had a feeling he knew where this was going. “It’s not a thing; it’s a passing hobby for good intel on the competition,” he said, easing his footing. “They’re all feeders.” 

“Well, whatever it is, I’ll join ya, I guess. Could be your little spy, then. Ya just gotta make me real-golf ready.” 

Kaiba putted. “That might take a while.” 

“Is that a no?” 

As the ball landed several centimetres from the hole, Kaiba smirked. “Did I say no?” 

“Ya like talkin’ without sayin’ what you’re talkin’ about,” Joey replied.

“I accept your terms.” Tapping the ball into the hole, Kaiba retrieved the balls and handed Joey’s his. He began to fill in the scorecard. 

“Oh no,” Joey snatched the scorecard away. “I’m doin’ it. None of your ‘off the course don’t count’ bullcrap.” 

As if he was going to need that. The rest of this was going to be taken more seriously, but compared to an actual golf course, planning the hits and angles was different. It was easy to make the ball skip over rocks or, in the case of the water traps, lose it completely. He wasn’t about to automatically lose because he couldn’t control where his ball went. 

If anything, Joey took the challenge in stride. Though Kaiba didn’t say anything outright, he was a little impressed with how casual—and almost good—his husband was. A lost talent, perhaps. 

They battled through the holes, keeping even pace behind a family of six who took their precious time. When they were idle, Joey kept making kissy-y faces. “We’re gonna have to stop by a store on the way,” he taunted, almost sing-song, as he came within two on the third-to-last hole. “Don’t think we packed the proper equipment in the car.” 

“The clubs are in the trunk.” 

Snorting, Joey took position and putted, jumping across one of the obstacles. It banked off a wooden jut and bounced onto the concrete. 

Point for him.

“That’s a shame,” Kaiba mocked, strolling up. “I ought to start making room for your lesson tomorrow.”

Joey dropped the ball on the green. “Don’t ya work tomorrow?” 

“I could make arrangements.” 

“Say that again.” Joey put his hand to his ear. “Did ya say: I can take a day off? That ain’t in Seto Kaiba’s vocabulary.” 

“No, I didn’t. This is work related, if you plan on being my stand-in at the course,” Kaiba replied. He waited for Joey to finish his turn, ending up a point over par. His cheeks burned red. “You really should be grateful, Joseph.”

“Yeah?” 

Carefully adjusting, Kaiba putted. “It’s not like I’d let anyone else be a liaison like that.” 

“It’s ‘cause ya love me so much.” 

“2,” Kaiba said as the ball sank into the hole. “And sure. Let’s go with that.” 

Hugging tight around Kaiba, Joey acted as if he was trying to suffocate the brunet, but Kaiba knew better. Though he gnashed his teeth into shoulder of Kaiba’s shirt, he knew it was really a nuzzle; a soft touch. He felt Joey smiling into his arm. 

“Last hole, jerk,” Joey said. “Make or break.” 

“You need an eagle, assuming I don’t birdie you.” 

Joey’s behind waggled. “You’re an eagle.” 

“That’s not an insult.” 

With a hard putt, blanking off several different angles and dropping into a multilayered hole, Joey shouted: “It’s an insult, an’ I’m the winner!” as he thundered down the stone steps, following his ball as it dipped into the end hole and disappeared. “Hole-in-one, honey! Who’s the best? This guy!” 

“Lucky shot.” 

If Kaiba did the math, on a 4-par hole and Joey only marking one, he only needed a 3. On a stupid game. This was going to be easy. If Joey could hit it in so simply, he suspected the hole was set up to make people feel good, especially children (or man-children like his husband). 

The crack off the ball was satisfying, and it plunked off the angles and swirled down the hole the same as Joey’s. This would be a killer win. But his stomach sunk and the ball shot out towards the hole, flew over it, and skipped over the rocks. 

Joey snickered. “Well, that’s a shame.” 

“Don’t be glib,” Kaiba snarled. He headed down the stairs. “I can still beat you.” 

“Sure.” 

“Easily.” 

He set the ball up again, and hit again, and landed closer to the hole this time. Another hit, went close to the hole and curled around the edge. A vein twitching in Kaiba’s temple twitch. One more stroke would be a tie; he supposed, given the situation, that was the best outcome. It wasn’t a favourable one, really, because then this whole thing would have been pointless. They would have argued for nothing, but he putted anyways. 

And it skipped over the hole. 

“What the—?” 

Joey swallowed a snort, and Kaiba fumed as he tapped the ball in. He waited for Joey to finish up the tallying, seeing the ear-to-ear grin out of the corner of his eye. The gloating was coming. He couldn’t escape it. 

“...Huh. Would ya lookit that.” 

“What?” 

“It’s a tie.” 

Kaiba sighed. “Let me do the math, Joseph.” 

“Well, ya got a 4 last round. So...tie,” Joey said, showing the numbers off, along with his chickenscratch in the margin. 

“I had a 5,” Kaiba said, being honest in his loss. It wasn’t like getting busy, no matter how unsanitary it might have been, was that bad of a prize. 

“Nah, it’s a 4. Balls that fall off the course don’t count, remember?” 

Kaiba tried snatching the scorecard from Joey, but the blond was quick to press it to his chest. “If that’s the case, then three holes back you...” 

Joey put his finger on Kaiba’s lips. “Shut up. It’s a tie,” he insisted, still grinning. “An’ in that case...guess we both get the prizes?” 

Blank, Kaiba tried to find a rebuttal, but nothing came to mind. Neither was a loss, per se, and though he didn’t like it, he grunted and reluctantly agreed. “But we’re going again.” Joey wasn’t beating him in this ridiculous game. 

Kissing Kaiba gently, Joey chortled. “Whatever ya say.” He took Kaiba’s hand to lead them out. “Now, let’s go get ready, huh? You owe me a good time.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Me and Arafax have talked about this frequently, and here it is. I hope everyone’s enjoyed this fluff! 
> 
> Tell me what you think :3


End file.
